How Sania-Saina made 2015 a memorable year for Indian sports
Sifting through the achievements of Indian athletes in 2015, one gets a feeling that despite all the roadblocks, it was an eventful year. After all, just as politicians are often faced with controversies, athletes also have to deal with a number of issues. As one enters the last few days of the year, there is a lot to feel happy about when one recalls how sportspersons from various disciplines showed guts while chasing glory in adversity.
For India, a nation obsessed with cricket, despite producing medallists at every Olympics since Atlanta 1996, the rise of a Test captain in Virat Kohli is seen as huge. He led India to a Test series triumph in Sri Lanka and then piloted his side to victory against the hapless South Africans at home.
However, the real rise was that of R Ashwin as a champion off-spinner who took 62 wickets in nine Tests. In the batting department, Ajinkya Rahane struck a rich vein of form and showed that he could play with the same efficiency in all formats. He scored 593 runs in nine Tests with three centuries and amassed 672 runs in 21 ODIs.
When one compares this with what the virtually unknown gymnast Dipa Karmakar did at the World Championships in Glasgow, it was proof Indian athletes in Olympic sports are giving their best efforts.
Gymnastics is not a sport where India has produced champions even at the Asian level. For the diminutive girl to wow the world in Glasgow was huge. As Dipa said later, for an Indian to figure in the vault final (a field of eight) was big as there was no Romanian figuring in it.
A year earlier, Dipa had showed in which league she belonged when she won bronze at the Commonwealth Games. Yet, to make a dent at the World Championships was special.
In golf, without a doubt, Anirban Lahiri has been on the rise. It was expected as he had been honing his skills for a long time and has finally matured.
To win the Asian Tour Order of Merit and also make it to the prestigious President's Cup squad was another high. He figured in all the majors, and winning two titles - the Indian Open and Malaysian Open - in 2015 was champagne stuff.
There were notable achievements in boxing and wrestling as well on the big stage as Shiva Thapa and Narsingh Yadav won bronze medals on the world championship platform. This showed that a year before the Rio Olympics, their preparations are on the right track.
However, the same cannot be said at large about Indian boxing which has lurched from one controversy to another because of the federation's differences with the international body.
Armyman Dattu Bhokanal, an unknown name for most people, was also in news as he won the singles sculls silver medal at the Asian Rowing Championships in Beijing. As one whose father used to dig for water in Nashik and plumbed the depths, it was strange he took to a water sport and excelled.
There were some medals in shooting as well and the number of people to have qualified for the Rio Olympics has gone up to eight. More importantly, "fun" shooter Abhinav Bindra is spending hours at the range as he goes full tilt for a shot at Olympic glory once again.
And then you have the icing on the cake, the two gems who trained all along in Hyderabad before one moved to Bangalore. Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal grabbed headlines through the year as both achieved the coveted world number one ranking in tennis and badminton respectively.
For Saina, this has been a solid year as she won the Indian Open and was runner-up at the All England Championship and the World Championship. She became world number one for a brief while and the Chinese watched it closely.
As one who already has an Olympic medal in her kitty, 2016 is going to be a big year. Her coach Vimal Kumar says fitness will be the key and in the next eight months, the way she handles the "pain" factor will be important. For an athlete to be fit throughout the year is impossible.
But if I were to pick one athlete who can be called the "Sportsperson of the Year", it has to be Sania Mirza. Agreed, she doesn't play singles anymore, but her partnership with Martina Hingis has been the talk of the global tennis circuit.
To win ten titles, including two Grand Slam titles and finish as the number one pair and also clinch the season-ending title in Singapore was super special.
They say doubles is all about chemistry. Sania and Hingis is a famous pair and the lady from Hyderabad does stand head and shoulders above the rest of the Indian sportspersons in 2015. She knows the next year will be a big one as there is nothing like winning an Olympic medal.
Hopefully, this time, she will get to choose her mixed doubles partner so that there is no controversy!
(Courtesy Mail Today.)